Brentuximab vedotin administered to platinum-refractory, transplant-naïve Hodgkin lymphoma patients can increase the proportion achieving FDG PET negative status.

Normalization of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) imaging prior to high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) improves outcomes in relapsed and refractory (RR) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), but many patients refractory to platinum-based salvage regimens are unable to achieve this goal. We therefore investigated whether brentuximab vedotin (BV) could normalize FDG PET in platinum-refractory HL prior to ASCT. Fifteen consecutive patients with RR HL and FDG PET positive disease after platinum-based salvage therapy were treated with a median of 4 cycles of BV. Normalization of FDG PET (Deauville ≤2) occurred in 8/15 (53%) patients but was only observed in patients that had achieved partial remission or stable disease after platinum-based salvage therapy. All patients eventually proceeded to ASCT, regardless of FDG PET status. Our data suggest that BV can normalize FDG PET in a subset of patients with platinum-refractory HL prior to ASCT.